Percutaneous in situ or on-site laser therapy treatment of tissue such as tumors and in particular malignant breast tumors can be more readily performed today because tissue abnormalities such as tumors are being detected at earlier stages. Moreover, other treatment techniques can be performed in similarly early stages of the development of tissue abnormalities, such as the application of x-ray energy to a tissue abnormality. Tissue abnormalities such as breast cancer and other cancers or tumors detected early in development can be effectively treated or destroyed using an ablative agent such as laser energy without conventional surgery.
Interstitial laser treatments of tissue (such as tumors) including malignant tumors (such as breast, liver, brain, and neck tumors), have been in development for more than a decade. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,396, U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,953, U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,240, U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,366, U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,988, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,175, U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,412, U.S. Pat. No. 7,041,109, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,171,253 disclose various apparatus and methods for applying laser energy directly to a tissue abnormality. Certain of these patents disclose a laser source for generating ablative laser energy to be applied to the tissue abnormality. Certain of these patents also disclose thermal probes including thermistors for detecting the temperature of tissue adjacent to tissue abnormalities.
In certain known treatment regimens, interstitial laser therapy is followed or preceded by chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or both. Currently available radiation therapy techniques require invasive steps beyond the minimally invasive techniques for performing interstitial laser therapy. For example, one radiation therapy technique includes creating an incision to enable radioactive seeds to be deposited at or near the tissue abnormality to be treated.
Furthermore, in certain other known treatment regimes, an apparatus for delivering energy to a tissue mass to be treated (such as a tumor mass) includes a catheter inserted in the vicinity of the tissue mass. In certain of such treatment regimes, the catheter is configured to maintain a cavity created as the tissue mass to be treated is destroyed (i.e., as the tissue mass is ablated). For example, in certain treatment regimes, the catheter includes a balloon which is inflated during treatment to maintain the cavity created by ablation of the tissue mass.
There is a need for a system to enable an integrated delivery modality that can deliver radiation to a treatment site in a controlled, minimally invasive way. There is a further need for devices for facilitating interstitial brachytherapy in a minimally invasive way. There is a further need for a therapeutic system including a plurality of components for applying therapeutic laser energy and therapeutic x-ray energy without removing or inserting one or more additional percutaneous components. There is a further need for a therapeutic system which enables delivery of radiation to a treatment site without the use of a catheter or balloon to maintain a cavity formed during treatment.